Current pharmacological, surgical or trans-catheter procedures for opening clogged vessels can be time-consuming, traumatic and expensive.
Objects of the present invention are to provide a flexible apparatus that can be inserted into a patient""s vessel, for example a blood vessel, through a small puncture wound, be navigated to an obstruction, for example thrombus, fragment the obstruction to small pieces, aspirate pieces of the obstruction into the apparatus and simultaneously convey the pieces by a combination of negative pressure and mechanical conveyance. These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following discussion and the accompanying drawings.